Two apple computers from the University of Minnesota were stolen. The two of these laptops contained personal information of 13000 past and present students. These laptops were then hacked by the thieves to find out all the information in the laptops. They hackers were able to hack the computers due to the lack of its authenticity and it had no encryption in any of its files, which made it easier for the hackers. The University administration is worried that the thieves might release all of these students information containing, name, address, phone number, student id, birth date, citizenship, and social security numbers. This is the largest number of students affected by a computer mishap. The university in now trying its best to notify the affected people and they are ready to take up the responsibility of this mishap as it happened under the university’s supervision. The university is now trying to keep all its information in a centralized system with more safeguards. This incident made many students lose their trust in this university which can later have an affect on the university.
Possible Solutions:
The first thing the university should do is get better authentication methods and start encrypting their important files.
They need a better IT department who can always be checking up on the systems making sure nothing gets hacked into.
Get a team to computer experts to try and hack the system to find all the holes in the system
Frequently check the system to make sure all of the system in a good state where it is unable to be hacked.
University of Minnesota
Two apple computers from the University of Minnesota were stolen. The two of these laptops contained personal information of 13000 past and present students. These laptops were then hacked by the thieves to find out all the information in the laptops. They hackers were able to hack the computers due to the lack of its authenticity and it had no encryption in any of its files, which made it easier for the hackers. The University administration is worried that the thieves might release all of these students information containing, name, address, phone number, student id, birth date, citizenship, and social security numbers. This is the largest number of students affected by a computer mishap. The university in now trying its best to notify the affected people and they are ready to take up the responsibility of this mishap as it happened under the university’s supervision. The university is now trying to keep all its information in a centralized system with more safeguards. This incident made many students lose their trust in this university which can later have an affect on the university.
Possible Solutions:
Article and Resource Links:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213385,00.html
http://www.process.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/policy/SecurityBreach_pol.cfm
http://www.technorati.com/tags/data+breach
http://www.umn.edu.oit/security/Letter_NewsMNStateLaw.html
Salmaan Beg